Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Sudowoodo! Sunflora! Donphan!)

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Jabroniville
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Magmin

Post by Jabroniville »

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MAGMIN
Role:
Flaming Pests
PL 5 (45)- Minion Rank 9, Sidekick Rank 3
Normal Version:
PL 0
STRENGTH -4 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -2

Skills:
Athletics 10 (+5)
Close Combat (Bite) 2 (+4)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+5)
Perception 4 (+5)

Advantages:
Close Attack 3

Powers:
Fiery Aura 4 [16]
Immunity 10 (Fire Effects) [10]

"Fun Size" Shrinking 8 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) -- (1 foot) [17]
(-2 Strength, +4 Defenses, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation, -1 Speed)

Offense:
Unarmed +3 (-4 Damage, DC 11)
Aura +5 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +2, Fortitude +2, Will +1

Complications: 
Motivation (Makin' Mischief)

Total: Abilities: -12 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 43 / Defenses: 1 (45)

-Magmin hail from the Elemental Plane of Fire, and are simple-minded, mischievous (translation: annoying) creatures, constantly bathed in terrible heat. Appearing to be made from liquid magma itself, they enjoy setting things aflame, and scarcely seem to notice that such things are painful or deadly to other creatures. Large populations of Magmins make up the Plane of Fire, and individuals are rarely encountered in Castellia- those who are are often swiftly dealt with, as entire cities could fall to such creatures.

Jab's Notes: Meh- more "silly random stuff" from the Monster Manual. This is something more for people who like "Annoying Critters" as one-off foes, though a CR of 3 is pretty good for what looks like a bottom-tier creature. They are PL 4.5 offensively, but only PL 3 defensively, being very hot, but rather weak, critters. They at least fill out the life forms on the Plane of Fire.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Batgirl III »

I’ve always seen Magmin as “Fire Goblins,” using them as the counterpart to Azir. In my head canon, each elemental plane mirrors some aspects of the real world, with the Planes of Earth and Fire having counterparts for dwarves, goblins, and other “earthy” things. The Planes of Air and Water are contain “through a mirror, darkly” versions of elves, naga, and other “ephemeral” things.

But all are so utterly alien to mortal logic and reasoning as to be nearly incomprehensible.
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Woodclaw »

Batgirl III wrote: Sun Apr 29, 2018 3:30 pm I’ve always seen Magmin as “Fire Goblins,” using them as the counterpart to Azir. In my head canon, each elemental plane mirrors some aspects of the real world, with the Planes of Earth and Fire having counterparts for dwarves, goblins, and other “earthy” things. The Planes of Air and Water are contain “through a mirror, darkly” versions of elves, naga, and other “ephemeral” things.

But all are so utterly alien to mortal logic and reasoning as to be nearly incomprehensible.
In one of my campaigns I used a reverse of this logic, most humanoids races originated in the elemental planes, but migrated to the material one after some kind of catastrophe.
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by catsi563 »

Batgirl III wrote: Sun Apr 29, 2018 3:30 pm I’ve always seen Magmin as “Fire Goblins,” using them as the counterpart to Azir. In my head canon, each elemental plane mirrors some aspects of the real world, with the Planes of Earth and Fire having counterparts for dwarves, goblins, and other “earthy” things. The Planes of Air and Water are contain “through a mirror, darkly” versions of elves, naga, and other “ephemeral” things.

But all are so utterly alien to mortal logic and reasoning as to be nearly incomprehensible.
I also use a similar mechanic so to speak, the 4 elementals having material world analogs, and the gods of the higher and lower planes being responsible for the material races various appearances and gifts.
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Batgirl III »

catsi563 wrote: Sun Apr 29, 2018 6:45 pm
Batgirl III wrote: Sun Apr 29, 2018 3:30 pm I’ve always seen Magmin as “Fire Goblins,” using them as the counterpart to Azir. In my head canon, each elemental plane mirrors some aspects of the real world, with the Planes of Earth and Fire having counterparts for dwarves, goblins, and other “earthy” things. The Planes of Air and Water are contain “through a mirror, darkly” versions of elves, naga, and other “ephemeral” things.

But all are so utterly alien to mortal logic and reasoning as to be nearly incomprehensible.
I also use a similar mechanic so to speak, the 4 elementals having material world analogs, and the gods of the higher and lower planes being responsible for the material races various appearances and gifts.
Mine’s more or less the reverse. Any significantly important “concept” from the Prime Material Plane creates “copies” of itself in the other planes. The “further away” a plane is from the prime, the more abstraction you get in the copy. The less important the concept the less likely you are to see a copy.

So things like Life, Death, Up, and Down are pretty fundamental concepts. You have to go very, very “far out” to get to planes where these concepts don’t exist... Basically the Cthulhu Mythos alien geometries of the Far Realm.

Dwarves consider “dwarveness” to be a really important concept, as they do fire and earth. So they show up on those planes there as reflections. Elves and faerie creatures don’t think of those elements as part of themselves, so their aren’t any “Fire Elemental Elves.”
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by catsi563 »

I'm mostly the same./ the true rules apply as long as youre in whats considered ""reality"' its when you start getting out into the far reaches of the never never or out past the outer boundaries of reality that the rules start getting pretzled into unrecognizable shapes that drive you madder then a hatter.

Same with concepts Dwarves admire and embody solidity stubbornness and endurance, but they can be mecurial like fire using it to cleanse and build and forge new creations. so they have analogs on the elemental planes of fire and earth.
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Spectrum »

Batgirl III wrote: Sat Apr 28, 2018 8:40 pm
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 28, 2018 5:49 pm PS Obama is the greatest, smartest and handsomest president ever.
You misspelt “James K. Polk.”
I figured that he would go with Justin Trudeau, the even more Obama Obama.
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Spectrum »

On the fantasy realm front, I tend to go approach it from the opposite direction (though we may have already have had so many opposites I'm going over the same ground)- the mortal plane is but a pale reflection of truth that shines through in some places. The oldest, most untouched woods, the darkest of caves, the depths of active volcanoes blending between the mortal realm and their elemental realms.
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Mohrg

Post by Jabroniville »

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MOHRG
Role:
Elite Undead
PL 7 (108)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA -- AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Intimidation 6 (+6)
Perception 4 (+4)
Stealth 6 (+7)

Advantages:
Benefit (Ambidexterity), Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Tongue), Improved Initiative, Startle

Powers:
"Undead"
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Protection 6 [6]
Senses 1 (Low-Light Vision) [1]
"Tongue" Extra Limb 1 [1]

"Raise Zombies" Affliction 8 (Fort; Transformed to Zombie) (Extras: Continuous +3) (Flaws: Limited to Opponents Slain -2) [16]
"Tongue Paralysis" Affliction 8 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed) (Feats: Reach) (Extras: Cumulative) [17]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Paralysis +6 (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +5, Fortitude --, Will +2

Complications:
Hatred (Living Things)- Mohrgs seek nothing more than the destruction of all life.

Total: Abilities: 16 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 71 / Defenses: 8 (108)

-Mohrgs are the animated remains of mass murderers and genocidal maniacs who've never atoned for their crimes- they resemble skeletons animated via pulsating innards within their torsos, with a fierce, hooked tentacle coming out of the creature's mouth.

Jab's Notes: Mohrgs are one of the cooler-looking and more distinct Undead in the game, among the few who look like something other than "stereotypical ghost" or "person with bad skin". The whole "Hooked Monster Tongue" thing is a real stand-out. I remember seeing stats for an Awakended Mohrg Fighter that really clued me in to how varied and F'd up D&D could be, as well.
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Funny thing about all this "Elemental Plane of _________" talk is that I consider that aspect to be, BY FAR, the least-interesting part of D&D and its worlds. Like, I could not possibly care less what's on the Elemental Plane of Air. I was planning on that whole thing just being "where Elementals come from", but then I found that something like 70% of the stuff I've been working on lately is extraplanar, so I've been forced to modify my plans for that, just to avoid overloading my Fantasy World with even MORE races of stuff. It's a handy way to throw everything into a single basket, but keep it "away" from the main setting.

It's pretty clear, though, WHY I don't care for those Planes. Because this entire set for the past few months has just been "Monster Manual Stuff I Missed", and the only reason I missed it was because I didn't consider them interesting enough to make Castellia the first time around, nor this recent re-posting. It's only for completion's sake and the purposes of talking smack about the books that I'm doing all of these less-interesting creatures... and the realization that SO MUCH of what I don't care about turns out to be from the Planes... well, it puts a fine point on just how boring I find all of that.
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Batgirl III »

I’ve long ago stopped trying to include everything in my settings. I come up with an explanation for the major demihuman races and more iconic monsters — dragons, giants, centaurs, and so forth. The rest I just say “A Wizard Made It” or “A Wizard Summoned It.”
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Batgirl III wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 7:29 pm I’ve long ago stopped trying to include everything in my settings. I come up with an explanation for the major demihuman races and more iconic monsters — dragons, giants, centaurs, and so forth. The rest I just say “A Wizard Made It” or “A Wizard Summoned It.”
Funny thing is, if left entirely to my own devices, Castellia wouldn't even have Dwarves or Elves, really. I just include them because they're fantasy staples and have stats I can play around with :).
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Batgirl III »

I have tended to default to “If it’s in the Player’s Handbook it’s in my world.” simply so that I don’t have to put up with arguments. It might not be as common, it might not be anywhere local, but it’s in there.

When I deviate from this (as in my ‘Ioun’ setting thread) then I make sure to let my players know well in advance.
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Arrowhawks! Hags! Harpies! Hydras!)

Post by Ken »

Batgirl III wrote: Sat Apr 28, 2018 8:40 pm
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 28, 2018 5:49 pm PS Obama is the greatest, smartest and handsomest president ever.
You misspelt “James K. Polk.”
James K. Polk might be a giant.
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Medusas

Post by Jabroniville »

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MEDUSA
Role:
Petrifying Monsters
PL 8 (143)
Normal Version:
PL 0
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+12)
Expertise (Survival) 6 (+6)
Perception 8 (+8)
Stealth 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Equipment 2 (Bow & Arrow), Fast Grab, Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 4, Startle

Powers:
Senses 2 (Infravision, Acute Scent) [2]
"Petrifying Gaze" Affliction 8 (Fort; Dazed, Hindered & Impaired/Stunned, Defenseless & Disabled/Transformed to Stone & Unaware) (Extras: Area- Visual Perception, Extra Condition +2, Continuous +3) [56]

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Petrifying Gaze +8 Area (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Bow & Arrow +8 (+4 Ranged Damage, DC 19)
Inititiative +8

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +6, Fortitude +7, Will +5

Complications:
Prejudice (Monster)

Total: Abilities: 52 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 58 / Defenses: 10 (143)

-Medusas are quasi-reptilian creatures with snakes in place of human hair- they are infamous for their gaze attacks, which may petrify living beings. The origins of the creatures are unknown, with the stories changing from place to place- they are reptilian, but lack the origins of Beast-Kin or Lizardmen. They appear to be exclusively female, and are long-lived (but not ageless). Like Hags, they are very solitary creatures, often being known as "The Medusa", and are usually a local legend.

-The truth is, "Medusas" are women who have been punished from On High- sentient creatures, usually sorceresses or Priestesses, who have "fallen" and were thus given a horrible transformation by their Divine masters. Others were victimized by large Priesthoods, Covens, or otherwise magically-gifted clans. Males who "fall" are typically killed or sent straight to the Abyss- only women face this fate (likely due to them subverting expectations of subservience). Their differing appearances are generally given due to local customs or legends- this is why some are very scaled and hideous, while others are simply beautiful women with snakes in place of hair. Others still (especially those close to Naga or Yuan-Ti settlements) are given massive serpentine lower bodies in place of legs.

-The life of a Medusa is generally wracked with pain and abandonment, as they are forced to live solitary lives far away from human civilization, where they are inevitably forced to face down a never-ending succssion of would-be heroes out to slay them. This makes them defensive and very vicious.

Jab's Notes: As one of the most famous creatures of Greek Mythology, it was inevitable that the Medusa would become a whole "Monster Race" in D&D. They simply had them as a race of scaled snake-haired ladies, instead of a victim of Athena (or, alternatively, a mortal member of an otherwise-Immortal sisterhood). I kind of had to figure out an origin story- I was gonna go with a copy of the Hags (evil women altering themselves), but stuck with "they were punished by magical or religious orders"- sort of a "punishment for wicked women". I didn't wanna go with an ENTIRELY reptilian race, so I made excuses for the varied types seen out there in fiction.

Various Medusa Types:
"Snake Tail" Movement 1 (Slithering) [2]
"Venomous Snake Hair" Weaken Strength/Stamina 4-6 (Extras: Progressive +2) [12-18]
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